System and method for processing trip requests

ABSTRACT

A system and method for planning trips and for processing trip requests that utilizes a centralized network for facilitating travel reservations and/or services. The system includes multi-purpose point of service terminals that provide a plurality of modules for various travel related applications such as an integrated e-mail booking module, a computer telephony integration module, a super passenger name record database, a customer database, a trip planning module, a customer relationship management module, a workflow module, and a low fare search module.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a divisional patent application of, and claimspriority to, U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No.10/347,105, entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROCESSING TRIP REQUEST” andfiled on Jan. 17, 2003; which itself claims priority to both, and thebenefit of, U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/351,804,entitled “TRAVEL NETWORK SYSTEM AND METHOD” and filed on Jan. 25, 2002and U.S. Non-Provisional patent application Ser. No. 10/217,666,entitled “INTEGRATED TRAVEL INDUSTRY SYSTEM” and filed on Aug. 12, 2002,all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention generally relates to the travel industry. Morespecifically, the present invention relates to an integrated travelindustry system and methods that may be used to process trip requestsindependent of any computer reservation system (CRS).

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The last half of the twentieth century, and particularly the last twodecades, has been characterized by rapid changes in the travel industry.One example of the changes is the growth of the airline business thathas resulted in the proliferation of travel agencies and other travelinformation groups that require access to large volumes of data in a“real time” environment. This growth has led to many technologicaladvancements in computer reservation systems (CRS), also known as GlobalDistribution Systems (GDS), for the travel industry (The terms GlobalDistribution System (GDS) and Computer Reservation System (CRS) may beused interchangeably herein). The GDS is a computer network thatprovides travel agents and other travel information groups with accessto travel inventory related to hotel, condominium, rental car, airlineand/or the like. Examples of such inventory systems include the SABREsystem, Amadeus, Galileo/Apollo, System One, and Worldspan.Traditionally, travel agents use a computer that connects directly to aGDS system, such as SABRE or Apollo.

Unfortunately, a direct connection between the travel offices and theGDS typically creates a reliance on the GDS, and the direct connectionrequirement often results in inefficient processing of travelerreservations. For example, additional problems have often arisen due tothe complexity and cost related to maintaining and updating hardware andsoftware, especially on those systems where there are multiple GDSnetworks and desktop standards. In addition, there is often a lack ofconnectivity between travel offices that utilize different GDS systemsor configurations due to the private autonomous nature of many GDSnetworks. The autonomous nature of GDS networks lead to furtherinefficiencies such as the inability to deliver Internet access to thetravel offices through the same system. Internet access is desired, asit would allow for the integration of traveler reservations withInternet fares and/or connections with vendor direct inventory.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, an integratedtravel industry system comprises an integrated travel network having oneor more centralized hub sites, at least one Global Distribution Systemconnected to each of the hub sites, and at least one point of serviceterminal also connected to one of the hub sites.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the travelindustry system may further comprise a plurality of travel vendors thatare connected directly to each of the hub sites of the network.

In accordance with a further aspect of the present invention, the travelindustry system may also include a plurality of modules that are locatedon the point of service terminal. The modules may include an integratedtrip request module, a trip planning module, a computer telephonyintegration module, a super passenger name record database, a customerdatabase, a low fare search module, a customer relationship managementmodule, and a workflow module.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a method forprocessing a trip request having trip information comprises receivingthe trip request from a traveler, automatically routing the trip requestto a travel counselor, checking for other trip requests for thetraveler, and completing the trip request utilizing the tripinformation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of the present invention may be derived byreferring to the detailed description when considered in connection withthe Figures, where like reference numbers refer to similar elementsthroughout the Figures, and:

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of a travel industry system inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of a travel industry system inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic diagram of an exemplary network inaccordance with the present invention;

FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic diagram of an exemplary customer terminalin accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow diagram of an exemplary process for handling atrip request in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates an exemplary formatted trip request form inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates a flow diagram of an exemplary process for planning atrip in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8A illustrates a diagram of an exemplary user interface for a tripplanning module in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 8B illustrates a diagram of an exemplary user interface for a tripplanning module in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary display for an air itinerary inaccordance with an embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 10 illustrates a flow diagram of an exemplary process for aworkflow module in accordance with an embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

The present invention provides for an integrated travel industry systemthat includes a travel network that may be provided and managed by asingle vendor that is particularly skilled in providing and servicingnetworks (e.g., AT&T, British Telecom). In this manner, a managednetwork can be provided that is monitored, in an exemplary embodiment,24 hours a day, 7 days a week thus providing a single or reduced pointof contact for outages, and further providing for real time andhistorical reporting. In accordance with various aspects of the presentinvention, the travel network may be divided into multiple sub-networks,where each sub-network may be managed by a single vendor or differentvarying vendors. That is, one sub-network may be managed by AT&T andanother sub-network may be managed by British Telecom and thesub-networks may be connected together to form the travel network.

The present invention may be described herein in terms of functionalblock components, screen shots, optional selections and variousprocessing steps. It should be appreciated that such functional blocksmay be realized by any number of hardware and/or software componentsconfigured to perform the specified functions. For example, the presentinvention may employ various integrated circuit components, e.g., memoryelements, processing elements, logic elements, look-up tables, and thelike, which may carry out a variety of functions under the control ofone or more microprocessors or other control devices. Similarly, thesoftware elements of the present invention may be implemented with anyprogramming or scripting language such as C, C++, Java, COBOL,assembler, PERL, extensible markup language (XML), and Microsoft'sVisual Studio .NET, with the various algorithms being implemented withany combination of data structures, objects, processes, routines orother programming elements. Further, it should be noted that the presentinvention might employ any number of conventional techniques for datatransmission, signaling, data processing, network control, and the like.For a basic introduction of cryptography and network security, thefollowing may be helpful references: (1) “Applied Cryptography:Protocols, Algorithms, And Source Code In C,” by Bruce Schneier,published by John Wiley & Sons (second edition, 1996); (2) “JavaCryptography” by Jonathan Knudson, published by O'Reilly & Associates(1998); (3) “Cryptography & Network Security: Principles & Practice” byWilliam Stalling, published by Prentice Hall; all of which are herebyincorporated by reference.

It should be appreciated that the particular implementations shown anddescribed herein are illustrative of the invention and its best mode andare not intended to otherwise limit the scope of the present inventionin any way. Indeed, for the sake of brevity, conventional datanetworking, application development, database operations, and otherfunctional aspects of the system (and components of the individualoperating components of the systems) and method may not be described indetail herein. Furthermore, the connecting lines shown in the variousfigures contained herein are intended to represent exemplary functionalrelationships and/or physical couplings between the various elements. Itshould be noted that many alternative or additional functionalrelationships or physical connections may be present in a practicalelectronic transaction system.

As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, the presentinvention may be embodied as a method, a data processing system, adevice for data processing, and/or a computer program product.Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirelysoftware embodiment, an entirely hardware embodiment, or an embodimentcombining aspects of both software and hardware. Furthermore, thepresent invention may take the form of a computer program product on acomputer-readable storage medium having computer-readable program codemeans embodied in the storage medium. Any suitable computer-readablestorage medium may be utilized, including hard disks, CD-ROM, opticalstorage devices, magnetic storage devices, and/or the like.

The present invention is described herein with reference to screenshots, block diagrams and flowchart illustrations of methods, apparatus(e.g., systems), and computer program products according to variousaspects of the invention. It will be understood that each functionalblock of the block diagrams and the flowchart illustrations, andcombinations of functional blocks in the block diagrams and flowchartillustrations, respectively, can be implemented by computer programinstructions. These computer program instructions may be loaded onto ageneral purpose computer, special purpose computer, or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such thatthe instructions which execute on the computer or other programmabledata processing apparatus create means for implementing the functionsspecified in the flowchart block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in acomputer-readable memory that can direct a computer or otherprogrammable data processing apparatus to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readablememory produce an article of manufacture including instruction meanswhich implement the function specified in the flowchart block or blocks.The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer orother programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series ofoperational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmableapparatus to produce a computer-implemented process such that theinstructions which execute on the computer or other programmableapparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in theflowchart block or blocks.

Accordingly, functional blocks of the block diagrams and flowchartillustrations support combinations of means for performing the specifiedfunctions, combinations of steps for performing the specified functions,and program instruction means for performing the specified functions. Itwill also be understood that each functional block of the block diagramsand flowchart illustrations, and combinations of functional blocks inthe block diagrams and flowchart illustrations, can be implemented byeither special purpose hardware-based computer systems which perform thespecified functions or steps, or suitable combinations of specialpurpose hardware and computer instructions.

The present systems and methods facilitate the integration ofinformation and services between travel offices and between travelcounselors at the various travel offices. In addition, the systems andmethods facilitate integration with the Internet, Global DistributionSystems (GDS), alternate inventory (e.g., limousine providers), vendordirect systems, and/or other reservation processing technologies (e.g.,document delivery, file finishing, trip planning) that does not fullyrely upon GDS and/or is GDS independent. The terms Global DistributionSystem (GDS) and Computer Reservation System (CRS) will be usedinterchangeably herein. As stated above, the GDS includes any computernetwork that provides travel agents and other travel information groupswith inventory access related to, for example, hotel, condominium,rental car, airlines, and/or the like. As stated above, examples of suchinventory systems include the SABRE system, Amadeus, Galileo/Apollo,System One, and Worldspan.

Referring to FIG. 1, the present invention presents an integrated system100 which enables multiple entities to access various services (e.g.,travel services) in a manner that is independent from a particularcomputer system, such as a GDS system. This system facilitatestechnology independence from, or limited dependence on, the GDSs,thereby achieving a network that is business driven, business responsiveand enabling a company to become the industry leader.

System 100 may include a host server or other computing systemsincluding a processor for processing digital data, a memory coupled tosaid processor for storing digital data, an input digitizer coupled tothe processor for inputting digital data, an application program storedin said memory and accessible by said processor for directing processingof digital data by said processor, a display coupled to the processorand memory for displaying information derived from digital dataprocessed by said processor and a plurality of databases, said databasesincluding client data, merchant data, financial institution data and/orlike data that could be used in association with the present invention.As those skilled in the art will appreciate, user computer willtypically include an operating system (e.g., Windows NT, 95/98/2000,Linux, Solaris, Windows XP, etc.) as well as various conventionalsupport software and drivers typically associated with computers. Usercomputer can be in a home or business environment with access to anetwork. In an exemplary embodiment, access is through the Internetthrough a commercially-available web-browser software package.

Communication between users and system 100 of the present invention maybe accomplished through any suitable communication means, such as, forexample, a telephone network, Intranet, Internet, point of interactiondevice (point of sale device, personal digital assistant, cellularphone, kiosk, etc.), online communications, off-line communications,wireless communications, and/or the like. One skilled in the art willalso appreciate that, for security reasons, any databases, systems, orcomponents of the present invention may consist of any combination ofdatabases or components at a single location or at multiple locations,wherein each database or system includes any of various suitablesecurity features, such as firewalls, access codes, encryption,de-encryption, compression, decompression, and/or the like.

With continued reference to FIG. 1, in accordance with an exemplaryembodiment, travel industry system 100 comprises a travel network 110,one or more GDS systems 120, and one or more multi-use point of service(POS) terminals 130 located at travel offices and other sites. POSterminals 130 may include any computer or other Internet deviceincluding personal computers, workstations, servers, personal digitalassistants (PDAs), and the like. The customer terminals may be locatedanywhere in the world and may be connected to travel network 110 suchthat the users of the terminals have access to GDS systems and otherfeatures of the system as will be described in detail below.

Travel network 110 is further configured to provide access to theInternet 140 and to a plurality of travel vendors 150 such as airlinedatabases, car and hotel databases, train and bus databases, frequentflyer systems (e.g., Orbit), and the like. This network enables an openconsistent vehicle for non-GDS communication such as e-mail, Internetand the like, which is, inter alia, less expensive and less complex thanhaving to provide a separate network for non-GDS communications. Itshould be appreciated that providing access to the Internet will givee-mail access to POS terminal users of travel industry system 100.Specific information related to the protocols, standards, andapplication software utilized in connection with the Internet may not bediscussed herein. For further information regarding such details, see,for example, Dilip Naik, Internet Standards and Protocols (1998); Java 2Complete, various authors, (Sybex 1999); Deborah Ray and Eric Ray,Mastering HTML 4.0 (1997). Loshin, TCP/IP Clearly Explained (1997). Allof these texts are hereby incorporated by reference.

Travel vendor databases may include databases for travel relatedservices such as airlines, car rental, hotel, train, bus, limousines,and any other travel related service. As used in the system of thepresent invention, a database may be any type of database, such asrelational, hierarchical, object-oriented, and/or the like. Commondatabase products that may be used to implement the databases includeDB2 by IBM (White Plains, N.Y.), any of the database products availablefrom Oracle Corporation (Redwood Shores, Calif.), Microsoft Access byMicrosoft Corporation (Redmond, Wash.), or any other database product.Database may be organized in any suitable manner, including as datatables or lookup tables. Association of certain data may be accomplishedthrough any data association technique known and practiced in the art.For example, the association may be accomplished either manually orautomatically. Automatic association techniques may include, forexample, a database search, a database merge, GREP, AGREP, SQL, and/orthe like. The association step may be accomplished by a database mergefunction, for example, using a “key field” in each of the manufacturerand retailer data tables. A “key field” partitions the databaseaccording to the high-level class of objects defined by the key field.For example, a certain class may be designated as a key field in boththe first data table and the second data table, and the two data tablesmay then be merged on the basis of the class data in the key field. Inthis embodiment, the data corresponding to the key field in each of themerged data tables is preferably the same. However, data tables havingsimilar, though not identical, data in the key fields may also be mergedby using AGREP, for example.

With continued reference to FIG. 1, external customers 160 may beconnected directly to network 110, such that the external customers havedirect access to the travel network. In this manner, customers 160 mayaccess various features of the system as described below. In addition,travel products 170 may also be connected directly to network 110.Travel products 170 may include third party travel products such as filefinishing, contract optimization, and robotics processing as is wellknown in the art.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, travelindustry system 100 may provide a suitable website or otherInternet-based graphical user interface which is accessible by customers160 and other users of the system. In one embodiment, the InternetInformation Server, Microsoft Transaction Server, and Microsoft SQLServer, are used in conjunction with the Microsoft operating system,Microsoft NT web server software, a Microsoft SQL database system, and aMicrosoft Commerce Server. Additionally, components such as AccessSequel Server, Oracle, MySQL, Intervase, etc., may be used to provide anADO-compliant database management system. The term “webpage” as it isused herein is not meant to limit the type of documents and applicationsthat might be used to interact with the user. For example, a typicalwebsite might include, in addition to standard HTML documents, variousforms, Java applets, Javascript, active server pages (ASP), commongateway interface scripts (CGI), extensible markup language (XML),dynamic HTML, cascading style sheets (CSS), helper applications,plug-ins, and the like.

With reference to FIG. 2, in an exemplary embodiment, various componentsof travel industry system 100 are connected to network 110 such that acentralized connection to network 110 is obtained. For example, GDSsystems 120, travel vendors 150, and multi-use terminals 130 at traveloffices 200 and other sites may be centrally connected to network 110such that users of the multi-use terminals have access to variouscomponents of system 100 such as GDS systems 120 and travel vendordatabases 150. As used herein, “connected” may include any softwareand/or hardware for communicating or transmitting data.

Referring now to FIG. 3, travel network 110, in an exemplary embodiment,comprises a frame relay network having one or more hub sites 300 thatare used to connect travel offices and other users from around theworld. As is well known in the art, frame relay networks are a type ofnetwork that is used to transport data from location to location usingconnections, such as network components 310, which may comprise a routeror equivalent network device. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 3,there may be travel offices 310 in New York, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Rome,London, and Paris. Travel network 110 provides an integrated networksuch that any travel office in any city can communicate with any othertravel office in any city which will allow for more efficientcommunication and distribution of information. In another example, memosand other information can now be distributed electronically utilizingtravel network 110, thus saving time and money compared to previoussystems where a travel office could not communicate electronically withanother travel office that was utilizing a different GDS system. It willbe appreciated that these locations 300 are for exemplary purposes only,and that the present invention is not limited to these locations.

Travel network 110 may use an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) backboneand multiple redundant data centers. For example, as illustrated in FIG.3, network 110 may include two hub sites 300 that provide for dataredundancy as will be described. Alternatively, network 110 may compriseone hub site or network 110 may comprise more than two hub sites. Dataand connectivity redundancy is provided for when two or more hub sites300 exist. Alternatively, travel network 110 may comprise any othersuitable network that provides similar functionality to a frame relaynetwork.

Hub sites 300 may be connected to each other by network connection 320.In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, networkconnection 320 may comprise an ATM backbone. Alternatively, networkconnection 320 may comprise a different type of network connection suchas a T1 connection.

In an exemplary embodiment, one or more GDSs 120 are connected tonetwork 110 at each of the hub sites 300. By connecting GDS 120 to thenetwork at hub sites 300, the system provides for a centralized point ofcontact with all GDSs, as opposed to maintaining separate networks foreach GDS. If one of the hub sites is disabled or connectivity to one ofthe hub sites is otherwise lost, then GDS 120 will still be accessiblethrough one of the other hub sites 300.

Travel vendors 150 may also be connected to network 110 at each of thehub sites 300, thus providing redundant connectivity points for thetravel vendors. By centralizing the connection to travel vendors 150,the system of the present invention allows a company to negotiatedirectly with air, car rental, hotel vendors, and the like, based ondirect connections and fulfillment options, wherein connection is notlimited only through GDS hosts. Direct connections to various vendors(e.g., air, car rental, hotel, rail, limousines, cruise lines,conference centers, ferries) make it possible for travelers to have abroader range of travel service choices. The present invention alsoallows alternative supply and distribution channels for products andservices which may be provided by plugging a vendor directly intonetwork 110. Alternatively, travel vendors 150 may be accessed via theInternet as described below.

Adding or removing GDS or travel vendor databases from the system isaccomplished by adding or removing connections to the GDS and/or travelvendor database at hub sites 300. In this manner, it is not necessary toadd or remove hardware equipment or software applications at theindividual travel office. In one embodiment of the present invention, acentral connection to all GDS and travel vendors exists. The system maycommunicate with the various GDS and travel vendors through acentralized component, such as a translation server. The translationserver may communicate natively with the various GDS and travel vendorsystems by utilizing an application programming interface (API) suppliedby the GDS/travel vendor. Alternatively, the translation server maycommunicate with the various GDS and travel vendor systems by utilizingan industry accepted standard such as the Open Travel Alliance (OTA)standard. The translation server may communicate with the rest of thetravel industry system 100 by using any standard communication protocolsuch as the extensible markup language (XML). Clients of the system canchange or add GDS vendors without the need to add or replace hardware.In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the system includesminimal or no GDS-supplied hardware and allows a company to respond totechnology or product improvements with minimal or no GDS approval thusproviding for a host independent of individual GDSs.

The system will also allow for load leveling with GDSs to meet minimumcontractual transaction amounts. For example, the particular GDSaccessed by the travel counselor can be manipulated such that traveltransactions can be moved around from GDS to GDS in order to meetminimum transaction amounts. This can be accomplished by changing theGDS accessed by the travel counselor (this is transparent to the travelcounselor). In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention,a configuration item may be used that identifies the specific GDS thatis to be accessed by the travel counselor. This configuration item maybe stored in a configuration file or other similar storage location andaccessed by the system as necessary.

In addition, if a new travel office is to be deployed, the travel officeneeds only to be connected to network 110 as will be described next.This allows for a short time to market for a new travel office. Eachtravel office may have one or more terminals 130 that provide useraccess to the system 100 through network component 310. In accordancewith one aspect of the present invention, network components 310 areconnected to hub sites 300 by network connections 330. Networkconnection 300 may be any type of suitable network connection such asT1, ATM, ISDN, and/or the like. Terminals 130 may have access to thevarious GDSs and travel vendor databases through hub sites 300. Themulti-use terminals 130 may be used to provide a single source foraccessing multiple GDSs and travel vendor databases for users (travelcounselors). These multi-use terminals provide travel counselors with anew user-friendly, browser based Point of Service tool (a.k.a. CustomerInformation Gateway) that can be used for servicing customers asdescribed in detail below. Travel counselors will only need to betrained on a single computer user interface/software application inorder to be able to access a plurality of GDSs and travel vendordatabases. Stated another way, multi-use terminal 130 will be operatedthe same or substantially the same way, no matter which GDS is accessed.In this manner, the terminals 130 of the system provide for auser-friendly operation (travel counselors will need little or no GDSformat skills) and a customer focused reservation process with minimalor no restrictions by GDS limitations.

If one of the hub sites is disabled, terminal 130 may be automaticallyconnected to another hub site 300 that is active via network connections330 and 320, thus providing continuous network connection for the traveloffice and their customer terminals.

It will be appreciated that many applications of the present inventioncould be formulated. One skilled in the art will appreciate that network110 may interface with any system for exchanging data or transactingbusiness, such as the Internet, an intranet, an extranet, WAN, LAN,satellite communications, and/or the like. The users may interact withthe system via any input device such as a keyboard, mouse, kiosk,personal digital assistant, handheld computer (e.g., Palm Pilot®),cellular phone and/or the like. Similarly, the invention could be usedin conjunction with any type of personal computer, network computer,workstation, minicomputer, mainframe, or the like running any operatingsystem such as any version of Windows, Windows NT, Windows2000, Windows98, Windows 95, MacOS, OS/2, BeOS, Linux, UNIX, Solaris, Windows XP, orthe like. Moreover, although the invention is frequently describedherein as being implemented with TCP/IP communications protocols, itwill be readily understood that the invention could also be implementedusing IPX, Appletalk, IP-6, NetBIOS, OSI or any number of existing orfuture protocols. Moreover, the system contemplates the use, sale ordistribution of any goods, services or information over any networkhaving similar functionality described herein.

Referring now to FIG. 4, point of service (POS) terminal 130 providesfor a travel counselor browser based point of service application thatis GDS independent. It should be appreciated that this streamlines thereservation process and provides for greater operational efficienciesand higher levels of customer service. POS terminal 130 comprises, in anexemplary embodiment, an integrated trip request module 400, a tripplanning module 410, a super passenger name record (PNR) module 420, acustomer data module 430, a computer telephony integration module 440, acustomer relationship management (CRM) module 450, a workflow module460, and a low fare search module 470. These modules can be implementedwith software and hardware components as described in detail next.

Integrated trip request module 400 includes software and/or hardwarethat may be used to process a trip request from a traveler. The triprequest may include travel information that relates to the requirementsfor the trip. For example, the travel information may include thestarting point and destination (or destinations) for the trip, dates oftravel, preferred time of day for departure and arrival, mode of travel(e.g., air, train, bus, rental car, boat, and the like), hotelrequirements (e.g., size of room, smoking/non-smoking, price range,location, etc.), rental car and/or limousine requirements (e.g., size,type, smoking/non-smoking, etc.), and the like. It will be appreciatedthat the travel information may vary from one trip request to another,as for example, a rental car may be required for one trip, but notrequired for another trip. As another example, one trip may require asame day departure and return, and thus no hotel is needed.

With reference to FIG. 5, an exemplary process 500 using trip requestmodule 400 is illustrated for processing a trip request that is receivedfrom a traveler. The trip request may be received from the traveler(step 510) in various manners. In accordance with one aspect of thepresent invention, the traveler, or a representative for the traveler(e.g., assistant, secretary, co-worker, employee, travel coordinator,relative, friend, and the like) may access a formatted trip request formthat is located on a web site associated with travel industry system100. In accordance with one aspect of the present invention, thetraveler may have to register with the web site before accessing theformatted trip request form. Alternatively, the formatted trip requestform may be accessed via a software application (e.g., an e-mailsoftware application such as Microsoft Outlook) and once the form ore-mail template is completed, the travel request may be sent by thesoftware application via e-mail to system 100.

With momentary reference to FIG. 6, an exemplary formatted trip requestform 600 is illustrated that contains various fields for entering travelinformation for the trip request. Using an internet browser (e.g.,Microsoft Internet Explorer or Netscape Navigator) or a softwareapplication (e.g., Microsoft Outlook), the traveler or the traveler'srepresentative may access the formatted trip request form, fill out theform by providing various travel information as necessary, and thene-mail or otherwise submit (using, for example, submit button 610 offormatted trip request form 600) the trip request form to system 100. Itwill be appreciated that the user/traveler only needs a web-browser inorder to make a trip request or to modify an existing trip request. Forexample, the traveler may be able to use a web kiosk at an airport tomake a trip request. Alternatively, the traveler may be visiting arelative or at another location where they have access to a computerwith Internet access that may or may not belong to the traveler.However, as long as the traveler can access the Internet they will beable to make a trip request or submit a trip request that modifies oroverrides a previous trip request. In accordance with one aspect of thepresent invention, the trip request form may be e-mailed to apre-existing identified e-mail account. For example, submitting the triprequest form by using submit button 610 and the like, may result in thetrip request form being e-mailed to a pre-existing identified e-mailaccount. In accordance with another aspect of the present invention,there may be a different e-mail account for each travel client orcompany (e.g., the company that employs the traveler). Alternatively,there may be different e-mail accounts for departments or divisionswithin a company such that the trip requests may be processed moreefficiently by travel counselors familiar with the travelers andrequirements associated with a particular division as will be describedin more detail below.

Trip request module 400 may receive the trip request (step 510) from thetraveler by monitoring the various pre-existing e-mail accounts. Forexample, module 400 may monitor the pre-existing e-mail accounts for newe-mails from travelers that indicate a new or modified trip request hasbeen received. Once a trip request is received, module 400 may presentthe trip request to a POS terminal 130. In accordance with anotheraspect of the present invention, module 400 may present the trip requestto the next available POS terminal. Stated another way, similar torouting telephone calls to the next available customer servicerepresentative, module 400 may route the trip request to the nextavailable or skilled travel counselor (step 520). Module 400 may routethe trip request to a travel counselor who is available and/or who hasthe proper skills to handle the trip request. For example, only certaintravel counselors may be trained to handle trip requests for aparticular company. Module 400 may extract the trip information from thetrip request and use the trip information to populate a screen pop thatis used to present the trip request to the travel counselor via theircomputer terminal 130. A travel counselor, utilizing terminal 130, maythen view the trip information in the screen pop and check the system tosee if there are other trip requests pending for the traveler (step530). The travel counselor may then process the trip request, andoptionally other trip requests that are pending for the same traveler,using trip planning module 410 (step 540). In addition, the travelcounselor may verify that there are no conflicts between the varioustrip requests for the traveler. This trip request module greatly reducesthe time it takes the traveler and the travel agency to process areservation. Once the trip request is processed as described inconnection with the trip planning module 410 below, the travel counselormay set a status for the trip request (step 550) that indicates that thetrip request was processed, or if unable to process the trip request,the status may indicate that an error occurred (e.g., no flightsavailable) while processing the trip request. The status may be used bysystem 100 to monitor travel counselor for their availability,efficiency, and the like.

In accordance with an alternative embodiment of the present invention,the trip request may be processed automatically without manual or travelcounselor intervention. For example, instead of routing the trip requestto a travel counselor (see step 520 above), module 400 may extract thetrip information from the trip request form and process the trip requestusing trip planning module 410 as described below. In this manner, thetrip request may be processed without the need for human intervention. Aswitch setting, such as a value read from a configuration file, may beused to indicate whether manual or automatic processing of trip requestsshould take place.

In accordance with another alternative embodiment of the presentinvention, the traveler may submit a trip request by an unformattede-mail message that may be generated by the traveler using an e-mailclient (e.g., Microsoft Outlook). The unformatted e-mail message may bereceived by module 400 and presented to a travel counselor via a screenpop. The travel counselor may then proceed to process the trip requestusing trip planning module 410.

Trip planning module 410 comprises a software application that may beused to plan trips for travelers by providing for any type ofreservation that may be required. For example, trip planning module 410may prompt for details on the trip such as destination and dates oftravel. The destination may be provided in a variety of forms includingairport, destination city, exact address, and the like. Trip planningmodule 410 will then apply logic to the request using the travelpolicies (e.g., travel policies of the traveler's employer), preferredvendor booking preferences, and/or other customer profile information tobuild an optimal option for the trip that includes the travelreservations best suited for the traveler. If the travel counselor wantsto change a specific reservation for a trip such as an airlinereservation, then this may also be accomplished using trip planningmodule 410. Alternatively, trip planning module may be used to plantrips by separately making airline reservations, hotel reservations, carrental reservations, airport limousine reservations, and any other typeof reservations that may be required.

With reference to FIG. 7, an exemplary process 700 using trip planningmodule 410 is illustrated for planning a trip in response to a triprequest that is received from a traveler. The trip request may bereceived from the traveler (step 710) in various manners as describedabove in connection with trip request module 400 and a screen pop may beautomatically populated with the trip information for the trip request(step 720). The traveler counselor may use trip planning module 410 tosearch for an air itinerary that matches the trip request (step 730).For example, with reference to FIGS. 8A and 8B, an exemplary userinterface 800 for the trip planning module is illustrated. In accordancewith one aspect of the present invention, the travel counselor may useone click of button 860 to request a search for air (or other mode oftravel such as train, bus, boat, and/or the like), car, limousine, andhotel itineraries using all of the traveler's preferences and policies,and with the negotiated rates and fares applied. Buttons 820, 830, 840,and 850 may be used to perform a search for the air itinerary, a caritinerary (step 740), a limousine itinerary (step 750), and a hotelitinerary (step 760) for the trip where the results of the search aredisplayed in a weighted hierarchy (FIG. 9). In addition, the low faresearch module 470 may be used to search for the lowest fares as will bedescribed in detail below.

The various options for the different itineraries may be displayed usinga weighted hierarchy that is based on various criteria such as, forexample, the traveler's company policy, contracts, preferences andweightings. Information from the company policy may be entered manuallyand may include traditional policies such as first class restrictions,flight windows and the like. In addition, the company policy may includeinformation on certain vendors/supplies that are not allowed to be used.Negotiations contracts with various air, hotel, rental car, andlimousine vendors may be entered automatically via the customer datamodule 430 as described below. These automatic feeds may take placenightly or at any other scheduled interval. Customer (i.e., the traveleror the traveler's company) preferences may be loaded manually.Preferences may include information on vendors/suppliers that arepreferred or non-preferred. However, if a non-preferred vendor isselected by the traveler, this should not result in an out of policyviolation. Weightings is information that allows the traveler ortraveler's company to specify how various vendors/suppliers should besorted/displayed on the traveler counselor's computer terminal. Theweighting applied to various criteria directly influences how thevarious vendors/suppliers are ordered on the traveler counselor'sterminal. For example, if cost is an important criteria to atraveler/company, then that traveler would weight price higher thanother criteria. Examples of criteria that may have weightings includeprice, travel distance, travel time, travel duration, enterprise serviceprovider (ESP) vendor, and preferred vendor. With reference to FIG. 9,an exemplary display 900 using a weighted hierarchy for an air itineraryis illustrated. In addition, other policies such as the traveler'spreference, cost, negotiated vendor rates, and the like, may also beused to determine the display hierarchy for the various itineraries. Itwill be appreciated that this will result in an optimized travelitinerary for the trip request and will allow the travel counselor tooffer the optimized travel itinerary as a first choice to the traveler.In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, the travelercounselor may perform one click or selection of button 870 to accept theproposed optimized travel itinerary. The proposed itinerary will then bebooked with the selected vendors for air, car, hotel and/or limousineservices. The travel counselor may use the trip planning module torepeat the process for a plurality of trips.

Super passenger name record (PNR) module 420 comprises a database systemthat stores travel reservation information. The database system may beimplemented with any of a variety of well known database standards suchas Oracle, Sybase, and the like. The stored travel reservationinformation includes information for a particular trip reservation suchas specific flight reservation information, hotel reservations, carrental information, and the like. In addition, PNR module 420 may beused to store information for a passenger's contact history with atravel office. For example, the names of travel counselors who assistedthe passenger may be stored in PNR module 420. The PNR module may alsobe used to store fulfillment information that indicates which ticketswere issued to the passenger and how much the passenger has been chargedfor the various reservations. It should be appreciated that storing thetravel reservation details outside the GDS promotes data privacy andconfidentiality. In addition, the super PNR module provides forconsolidated storage of itineraries booked through multiple or directvendors.

Customer data module 430 comprises a web enabled database system thatallows travelers to access and update their traveler profiles over theInternet. In this manner, a user friendly and efficient technique isprovided to travelers such that travelers can add additional preferencesand the like to their travel profiles. The system provides for fullintegration of customer policy, profile, negotiated contracts,past/current trip information, and customer relationship management(CRM) data. Information stored in the customer data module databaseincludes customer policies, for example, the corporate travel policiesof a particular corporation which contains policies that employees arerequired to follow. For example, the corporate travel policies mayprevent an employee from purchasing a first class airline fare or mayrequire an employee to utilize certain car rental vendors. The customerdata module database may also include the customer's negotiatedcontracts with various vendors (i.e., airlines, car rental agencies,hotels, and the like). The database may also include personalpreferences for individuals such as seat preferences (aisle or window)and frequent flyer information. Unused ticket information may also bestored in the customer data module database so that it may be utilizedby the low fare module as described above.

Customer data module 430 also provides the ability to accept customer HRfeeds and data feeds to and from other products used by the travelersuch as Corporate Travel Online (CTO), GetThere, and the like. Anoff-the-shelf tool may used for accepting customer HR feeds and datafeeds. An example of such an off-the-shelf too is an EnterpriseApplication Integration (EAI) tool that is known in the art. Inaddition, customer data module 430 may be implemented such that usefulreporting features are provided for the traveler. The travel profilesmodule may be implemented by using any of a variety of programminglanguages and techniques that are well known in the art and the databasesystem may be implemented with any of a variety of well known databasestandards such as Oracle, Sybase, and the like.

Using the customer data module, customers can see their own informationand update their own profiles via the Internet. For example, customerscan access the customer data module by utilizing a standard Internetbrowser to access a web site available via the Internet. The customerthen logs onto the customer data module using their secure username andpassword and thereby gain access to the functionality of the customerdata module. In this manner, customers can create and update customerpersonal profiles. Different individuals may be given different accesslevels to the customer data module. For example, the traveladministrators for a corporation may have global access so that they canmodify the corporate travel policies for their corporation, whileindividual employees may have limited access such that they can onlyaccess and modify their individual profile.

Computer telephony integration module 440 allows for voice information(e.g., phone call) and data (e.g., traveler profile) to be converged atthe travel counselor's desktop (i.e., POS terminal). Module 440integrates off the shelf computer telephony interface (CTI) technologyin order to provide voice-over-IP solutions, convergence of voice anddata to the desktop (screen pop), and improved features for customeraccess and identification. In addition, computer telephony integrationmodule 440 provides for the routing of e-mail, Internet, and otherinformation to the travel counselor's desktop (i.e., media blending) 130such as information from wireless devices (e.g., personal digitalassistants), bookings, and customer questions and requests. When acustomer (i.e., traveler) places a call to a call center (i.e., traveloffice), the customer will be prompted to entire a unique number orname, such as a personal identification number, that has been assignedto the customer. When a travel counselor answers the phone, all of theinformation for the customer will be displayed (referred to as a “screenpop”) on the computer. Customer e-mails to the travel office can berouted to travel counselors in a similar manner that phone calls arerouted. That is, the e-mails can be routed to next available agent or toan agent with a particular expertise. Using voice-over-IP (InternetProtocol) technology, phone calls into the call center can bedistributed over the Internet to remote locations. For example, thiswill allow call center agents to receive calls at home or at otherremote locations accessible by the Internet. In addition, built-inmonitors may provide detailed reporting on calls to management. Thisdetailed reporting can include information such as average time percall, number of calls per agent, and the like.

A customer relationship management (CRM) module 450 may include anoff-the-shelf CRM system such as Oracle, Siebel, and other databases.CRM module 450 may be used to capture and store information abouttraveler and corporations' travel patterns, special interest, customerservice inquiries/issues, profile information, frequent travelinformation, destination information, and specific requested data. Thiscaptured information may then be used to analyze and predict futuretravel spending.

Workflow module 460 comprises software that may be used for workflow andqueue management. Since the point of service (POS) terminal 130 providesfor a travel counselor browser based point of service application thatis GDS independent, it is desired to have GDS independent workflow andqueue management processing for the travel counselor. When the travelcounselor completes a reservation and queues it for processing, thequeued information may be extracted from the GDS queue and converted totext and routed to the first available agent/counselor for working.

With reference to FIG. 10, an exemplary process 1000 using workflowmodule 460 is illustrated for performing workflow and queue managementfor a plurality of travel counselors. Workflow module 460 may scan aqueue (step 1010), such as a GDS queue, for messages or records thatrequire further processing. In accordance with one aspect of the presentinvention, workflow module 460 may scan the queue at specifiedintervals. Examples of messages that may require further processinginclude trip requests, future ticketing, schedule changes, request forspecial services vendor confirmations, as well as other travel relatedoperational processes. If there are messages in the queue that do notrequire further processing, then workflow module 460 may remove thosemessages (step 1020). In accordance with one embodiment of the presentinvention, a configuration file may be used to indicate which messagesrequire further processing. For example, for a particular message type,there may be a configuration item that indicates how to handle themessage type such as: “Ignore it”, or put a header on the message andsend as an e-mail message, and the like. There may be separateconfiguration entries for each company, or even for each traveler. Anexample of a message that might require further processing is when thereis a schedule change to a flight segment and information for theschedule change is put into the queue. Another example is when there isa problem booking a reservation, then the reservation will be kickedback out to the queue for further processing.

When workflow module 460 identifies one or more messages that requirefurther processing, workflow module 460 may convert each of theidentified queue messages into a highly structured e-mail message (step1030) with passenger/customer information and the operation thatrequires further processing. The structured e-mail message may then beforwarded (step 1050) to a designated queue for processing by the nextavailable agent skilled for that type of operation. Workflow module 460may match the structured e-mail message to a designated queue usingskill based routing rules (step 1040) and then forward the e-mailmessage or formatted trip request to the matched queue for the nextavailable agent to process.

Low fare search module 470 comprises a dynamic low fare search enginethat can search fares from various sources including the Internet,direct connect vendors, proprietary databases (i.e., database of faresthat is provided by a company affiliated with the POS terminal's traveloffice), GDS fares, Airline Tariff Publishing Company (ATPCO) systemfares, company private or negotiated fares, and/or the like. Byproviding access to the Internet, Internet fares can be integrated intothe low fare search and provided to the user for comparison for faresfrom other sources such as GDS and direct connection to travel vendordatabases. Thus, system users can search dot com, direct connect,corporate and GDS fares. For example, a “web-bot” application can beused to search various airline web-sites on the Internet. In addition,the low fare search module can utilize unused ticket information whencalculating the fare displays. The unused ticket information may bestored and tracked in customer data module 430 or in a similar databasesystem. The unused ticket information may be obtained and analyzed inaccordance with the systems and methods disclosed in patent applicationSer. No. 09/346,085 filed Jul. 1, 1999; which is hereby incorporated byreference. The low fare search module may be implemented by a softwareapplication using any of a variety of programming languages andtechniques that are well known in the art.

In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described withreference to specific embodiments. However, it will be appreciated thatvarious modifications and changes can be made without departing from thescope of the present invention. The specification and figures are to beregarded in an illustrative manner, rather than a restrictive one, andall such modifications are intended to be included within the scope ofpresent invention. For example, the steps recited in any of the methodor process claims may be executed in any order and are not limited tothe order presented.

Benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems have beendescribed above with regard to specific embodiments. However, thebenefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) that maycause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become morepronounced are not to be construed as critical, required, or essentialfeatures or elements of any or all the claims. As used herein, the terms“comprises”, “comprising”, or any other variation thereof, are intendedto cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method,article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements does not includeonly those elements but may include other elements not expressly listedor inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Further, noelement described herein is required for the practice of the inventionunless expressly described as “essential” or “critical”.

1. A method of identifying a traveler in a trip request, comprising thesteps of: connecting, using a connection, to a plurality of globaldistribution systems (GDS), travel vendor databases, multi-use terminalsof a plurality of travel counselors, and travel websites such that theplurality of travel counselors have access to the travel vendordatabases and the plurality of GDSs, wherein the connection isaccomplished via a frame relay network having hubsites and using anasynchronous transfer mode (ATM) backbone and multiple redundant datacenters; wherein the connection further includes a translation serverconfigured to communicate natively with the plurality of GDSs, travelvendor databases, multi-use terminals of a plurality of travelcounselors, and travel websites; wherein the translation server isconfigured to communicate with the plurality of GDSs, travel vendordatabases, multi-use terminals of a plurality of travel counselors, andtravel websites via at least one of (i) XML, (ii) a native applicationprogramming interface (API), and (iii) an open standard alliance;wherein the translation server is configured to communicate with each ofthe hubsites; receiving the trip request, using the connection, viaemail; parsing, by a trip module, the trip request to obtain triprequest data; selecting, using the trip module comprising a processorand a data store, among GDSs for the trip request, using the connection,based upon a comparison of a prior trip request and a contractualrequirement, wherein said contractual requirement is embodied in aconfiguration item; storing, in said data store of said trip module, theselected GDS; receiving, via the connection, the trip request withtraveler information; displaying, via the connection, the travelerinformation in a screen pop; collecting caller information from acaller; comparing the traveler information to the caller information toupdate the traveler information; verifying that the trip request isfulfilled without modification; confirming that compliance is achievedwith a negotiated contract; and processing a second trip request, usingthe trip module, based upon said selected GDS and said contractualrequirement.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step ofpopulating a traveler notes box.
 3. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: receiving, using the connection, a weightings policy for atraveler; receiving, using the connection, a plurality of travelpolicies for an employer of the traveler; receiving the trip requestfrom the traveler; automatically building a plurality of travel optionsfor a trip utilizing the plurality of travel policies of the employer ofthe traveler, wherein the plurality of travel policies comprise aplurality of criteria including negotiated contract pricing informationand flight window timing, and wherein the plurality of travel optionsare determined by applying the negotiated contract pricing informationand the flight window timing; sorting the plurality of travel options ina weighted hierarchy based on the weightings policy; automaticallyrouting the trip request and the plurality of sorted options to a travelcounselor; checking, using the connection, for other trip requests forthe traveler; and completing the trip request utilizing the tripinformation and the plurality of sorted options.
 4. The method of claim3, wherein the step of routing comprises routing the trip request to anavailable travel counselor.
 5. The method of claim 3, wherein the stepof routing comprises routing the trip request to a skilled travelcounselor.
 6. The method of claim 3, further comprising the step ofmonitoring a pre-specified location for the trip request.
 7. The methodof claim 3, further comprising presenting the trip request to a POSterminal via a screen pop.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprisingthe step of populating the screen pop with the trip information.
 9. Themethod of claim 3, further comprising the step of setting, by the travelcounselor, a status of the trip request.
 10. The method of claim 9,further comprising the step of checking the status of the trip request.11. The method of claim 3, further comprising the step of viewing aplurality of trip requests for a plurality of travelers.
 12. The methodof claim 3, further comprising the step of filling out a trip requestform with the trip information.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein thestep of filling out comprises utilizing a formatted trip request form toprovide the trip information; and further comprising the step ofsubmitting the formatted trip request form via an Internet.
 14. Themethod of claim 12, wherein the step of filling out comprises utilizingan email template to fill out the trip request form with the tripinformation; and further comprising the step of submitting the emailtemplate via an email.
 15. The method of claim 12, wherein the step offilling out comprises utilizing an unformatted message to fill out thetrip request form with the trip information; and further comprising thestep of submitting the unformatted message via an email.
 16. A tangiblecomputer-readable medium having stored thereon a plurality ofcomputer-executable instructions that, if executed by a computingdevice, cause said computing device to perform a method comprising:connecting to a plurality of global distribution systems (GDS), travelvendor databases, multi-use terminals of a plurality of travelcounselors, and travel websites such that the plurality of travelcounselors have access to the travel vendor databases and the pluralityof GDSs, wherein the connection is accomplished via a frame relaynetwork having hubsites and using an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM)backbone and multiple redundant data centers; wherein the connectionfurther includes a translation server configured to communicate nativelywith the plurality of GDSs, travel vendor databases, multi-use terminalsof a plurality of travel counselors, and travel websites; wherein thetranslation server is configured to communicate with the plurality ofGDSs, travel vendor databases, multi-use terminals of a plurality oftravel counselors, and travel websites via at least one of: (i) XML,(ii) a native application programming interface (API), and (iii) an openstandard alliance; wherein the translation server is configured tocommunicate with each of the hubsites; receiving the trip request, usingthe connection, via email; parsing, by a trip module, the trip requestto obtain trip request data; selecting, using the trip module comprisinga processor and a data store, among GDSs for the trip request, using theconnection, based upon a comparison of a prior trip request and acontractual requirement, wherein said contractual requirement isembodied in a configuration item; storing, in said data store of saidtrip module, the selected GDS; receiving, via the connection, the triprequest with traveler information; displaying, via the connection, thetraveler information in a screen pop; collecting caller information froma caller; comparing the traveler information to the caller information;verifying that the trip request is fulfilled without modification;confirming that compliance is achieved with a negotiated contract; andprocessing a second trip request, using the trip module, based upon saidselected GDS and said contractual requirement.
 17. The method of claim1, further comprising propagating a user profile update via thetranslation server to the plurality of GDSs, travel vendor databases,multi-use terminals of a plurality of travel counselors, and travelwebsites.
 18. The method of claim 1, further comprising propagating apricing structure update via the translation server to the plurality ofGDSs, travel vendor databases, multi-use terminals of a plurality oftravel counselors, and travel websites.
 19. The method of claim 1,further comprising querying to obtain trip information from theplurality of GDSs, travel vendor databases, multi-use terminals of aplurality of travel counselors, and travel websites.
 20. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising retrieving stored trip requests for displayto the agent, using the connection, wherein the retrieving is from theplurality of GDSs, travel vendor databases, multi-use terminals of aplurality of travel counselors, and travel websites.
 21. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising performing a telephony function which isindependent of the plurality of GDSs.